I just came across Becoming A Lawyer, a blog by law school publisher Wolters Kluwer-one of the giants in law school publishing. It provides helpful information to prospective law students. For example, the article I just read is about being a law student and a parent at the same time. If your a college student thinking about law school and even if your a 1 L, you may want to check this blog out.

Patterson v. Turner Construction Co., ____A.D.3d___(3rd Dept. Oct. 27, 2011), is a short, but interesting case. Indeed, expect more litigation like it. The court holds that an individuals Facebook account is like a diary and not shielded from discovery, if relevant. As the court explained:

The postings on plaintiff's online Facebook account, if relevant, are not shielded from discovery merely because plaintiff used the service's privacy settings to restrict access (Romano v Steelcase Inc.,30 Misc.3d 426, 433-434 [2010]), just as relevant matter from a personal diary is discoverable (see Faragiano v Town of Concord,294 A.D.2d 893, 894 [2002]).

Obisdian Finance Group v. Fox, ____F.Supp.2d____ (D. Or. Nov. 30, 2011), is an important case for us bloggers. Oregon has a statute which limits defamation damages unless a plaintiff first requests a retraction. The court held, however, that a internet blogger, was not protected under that statute and therefore, could not rely on that defense. The court also held that a blogger was not protected under that state's shield law which privileged journalists from revealing their sources.

It is hard to find fault with the court's decision. It was based purely on statutory interpretation. Though blogging is similar to other journalist type activities, it is different. The medium is different (internet) and you do not have to sell your story; rather you just put it out there. There are no professional organizations, educational degrees or regulations which govern blogging. In short, it is different. Perhaps this case will trigger legislation throughout the several states.

Virgina State Bar's Crackdown on Lawyer's Blog Raises Questions is an important undated article in the Washington Post. It discusses a situation where the Virginia State Bar brought a charge of misconduct against a criminal lawyer, in part, because of his postings on his blog. Apparently, they were written in such a way to constitute lawyer advertising triggering the need to include a disclaimer. As the article states:

One purpose of the Web site is to market the firm and attract business, so any discussion of Hunter’s cases is considered advertising and must include a disclaimer “that puts the case results in a context that is not misleading,” the charge said.

Hunter’s case, which is scheduled for a hearing Oct. 18, appears to be the first time the Virginia State Bar has lodged a formal charge against an attorney over blogging and whether it violates advertising rules. State bar counsel Edward Davis would neither confirm nor deny the existence of previous charges against lawyers over blogs and advertising, but there is no record of disciplinary action against Virginia attorneys regarding the matter, according to the bar’s archives of disciplinary actions dating back to 1999. The bar can suspend or disbar attorneys found in violation of legal ethics.

This blog (as well as many others) has been cited in several law review articles. However, there has not been any consistency in the way I have been cited. In case you don't realize it, we are talking Bluebook here. Now, there is the whole debate whether cite form matters-I believe it does, but only to a limited degree. It is hard to argue that there should not be consistency. So, how do you cite a blog? Also, how do you cite to a blog comment?

Vodzalegal has listed how they think it should be done. But are they right? Do any of you Bluebook experts have any thoughts?

On Technology Law is an interesting blog by Texas Attorney D.C. Toedt who practices intellectual property and is Adjunct Law Professor at Univ. Houston Law School. The blog addresses much more than technology issues. It contains notes and "cheat sheets" which summarize different areas of the law such as arbitration and choice of law. It is worth book marking and checking out.

There is a new blog in town that focuses on wage and hour issues. Guess what? It is called the Wage and Hour Blog. While this blog contains some useful information, readers should know that it is run by the management law firm, Jackson Lewis.

Justia ranks blogs. I am delighted to report that we are ranked number 61 of all time. It ranks 3,000 of them so this is quite an honor. Of course, Justia covers just law and legally related blogs. Who are the top 10 (actually 11)? They are as follows:

Too Much Media
v. Hale, A-0964-09, is the first N.J. appellate ruling and only
the second in any state to address whether bloggers can invoke the
news persons' privilege to protect the identity of their sources. In this decision, the court held that bloggers are not part of the news media and therefore, they cannot invoke this privilege.T he only other state court case to consider whether bloggers are
protected as journalists is O'Grady
v. Superior Court , 44 Cal. Rptr. 3d 72 (2006), where the California
Court of Appeals denied enforcement of a subpoena seeking the names of
confidential sources from two Internet-only publications. An April 26, 2010 NJ Law Journal article discussing this case is available here.

It is tought to say whether the decision is correct. Clearly, in some cases, bloggers can be considered part of the media. For example, someone who writes for the NY Times Blog may be considered a journalist.However, even someone who writes for adjunct law prof blog may be considered a journalist if we operated in a manner similar to that of journalists.

Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, 558 U.S. ___, slip op at 49 (Jan. 21, 2010) appears to be the first time the Supreme Court recognized the importance of blogs and in fact used the term "blog." Specifically, the Court stated:

Rapid changes in technology—and the creative dynamicinherent in the concept of free expression—counsel againstupholding a law that restricts political speech in certainmedia or by certain speakers. See Part II–C, supra.Today, 30-second television ads may be the most effectiveway to convey a political message. See McConnell, supra,at 261 (opinion of SCALIA, J.). Soon, however, it may bethat Internet sources, such as blogs and social networkingWeb sites, will provide citizens with significant informationabout political candidates and issues. Yet, §441bwould seem to ban a blog post expressly advocating theelection or defeat of a candidate if that blog were createdwith corporate funds. See 2 U. S. C. §441b(a); MCFL,supra, at 249. The First Amendment does not permitCongress to make these categorical distinctions based onthe corporate identity of the speaker and the content ofthe political speech.

West recently announced that it is releasing e-book editions
of 29 of its most popular law books. The releases include the book
co-authored by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia legal wordsmith
Bryan Garner, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges.
West is offering the titles for electronic download to be read on Amazon's Kindle e-book reader. Recently, Amazon dropped the price of the U.S. version of the Kindle by $40 to $259.

A sign of the times. Sounds like a good idea to me. Will save everyone money.

If you have not seen it yet, Bitter Lawyer is an interesting blog designed for lawyers and intended to be entertaining. For example, Bitter Lawyer is currently running the following story:

Jeff Marx is the co-creator behind the hit Broadway show
"Avenue
Q.?He's responsible for
muppet-like characters that sing songs called "The Internet is For
Porn," which
have elated audiences around the world, received the blessing of Jim Henson's
family and netted him a Tony Award.Only thing is that he had to give up his career as a lawyer to do it.

Sound like a no-brainer switch of vocation?Well, it?s never that easy.

Marx is hilarious in his description of his road to
success,
which he attributes to a parody he wrote for Cardozo law school's Bar Revue.

Ever wonder which is the oldest legal blog and how old is it. Well, those honors belong to Overlawyered. According to blogger Robert Ambrogi at Legal Blog Watch Overlawyered just turned 10. Congrats!Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Legal Blog Watch carried an interesting June 24, 2009 story about blogging lawyers who made a career out of bloging. It cites to a story in the West Virginia Record which is about Mike Florio, a labor lawyer who started a sports blog ProFootballTalk.com. NBC Sports will now partner with Mr. Florio and promote this blog. Congrats. There was another labor lawyer who made it big as sports commentator. Any one Remember who?? Howard Cosell.